Capt. Katie Higgins made the headlines last summer when she became the first female to fly with the elite Blue Angels aerobatics squandron during shows. As a USNA graduate and Marine Corps Captain, Higgins trained to fly C-130s, the military’s workhorse cargo plane, then deployed to Afghanistan and Uganda. She grew up admiring the Blue Angels and now this third-generation military aviator gets to thrill crowds on “Fat Albert” for 300 days of the year.

We reached out to Capt. Higgins to see if there was any possible chance that one of her “days off” aligned with our upcoming September event. As we expected, this was not the case; BUT we were so enamored by her kind, prompt replies and sincere interest in supporting the work of our Foundation (while she didn’t know Val at the Naval Academy, she said they had many mutual friends.) She even sent us a set of her pilot’s wings to add to our Wings for Val collection at the Women’s Memorial at Arlington.

We will be honored to add this set of wings to our collection of fellow female aviators with the continued hope that they may inspire others to follow in the footsteps of these amazing women, showing similar character, leadership and fearlessness.

“I think that by including a lady on the team that just shows little girls and guys that women can do whatever they put their mind to. Little girls have told me that they didn’t even know that ladies can fly aircrafts, that women could be in the cockpit,” Capt. Higgins told CBS of her historic accomplishment.